1. George R.R. Martin is kind of a slow writer. Your show is going to beat you to the end, buddie. And I'm okay with that.

2. J.K. Rowling could probably buy the world if she kept writing Harry Potter novels. The best selling book of the year is going to be the script for the new play. There are Harry Potter amusement parks open in Florida and now California. She wrote the screenplay for what I'm sure will be the first in a new franchise of films. If she keeps dabbling in that world, she'll own the world. Mark my words.

3. Louis CK is a genius.

4. The fact there is going to be a Sicario 2 makes me very happy.

5. Dan Le Batard and The Dan Le Batard Show brings me great joy. If you hate him or it or both, you don't get the show!
6. Colin Cowherd is a douche that actually looks like a douche.

7. Eddie Redmayne has weird lips.

8. Draymond Green is a dope. He hunts penises on the court. Now he's hunting the internet with his penis. What's next? He hunts penises on the court with his penis? Expect a lot of future body checking.

9. The NFL should have a team named the Oilers. It should not be located somewhere there isn't any oil.

10. St. Louis should have a football team before London. Expansion prediction: St. Louis and London. Second round of expansion: San Antonio and Mexico City (or Toronto). When? No fucking clue.

11. The Chargers should stay in San Diego and their stadium should be downtown. It's good for the city, good for the economy, it'll secure future Super Bowls, and it'll secure ComiCon for the foreseeable future. Don't underestimate how much SDCC brings to the table on this front.

12. Seattle should have an NBA team. Basically, it's now the NFL version of L.A. Have a bunch of teams threaten relocation unless they get a new arena built. It's the bait that'll scare cities into keeping their teams and giving them arenas. Look at Sacremento. So, Seattle, don't expect a team until 2029.

Monday, August 1, 2016

Regardless of how you feel about Mel Gibson, the guy know how to make a good movie. Here the latest, which is a deserving story worth of the film treatment:

And here's the craziest part. Read the Citation for his Congressional Medal of Honor. Great Scott, Man!

He was a company aid man when the 1st Battalion assaulted a jagged escarpment 400 feet high. As our troops gained the summit, a heavy concentration of artillery, mortar and machinegun fire crashed into them, inflicting approximately 75 casualties and driving the others back. Pfc. Doss refused to seek cover and remained in the fire-swept area with the many stricken, carrying all 75 casualties one-by-one to the edge of the escarpment and there lowering them on a rope-supported litter down the face of a cliff to friendly hands. On May 2, he exposed himself to heavy rifle and mortar fire in rescuing a wounded man 200 yards forward of the lines on the same escarpment; and 2 days later he treated 4 men who had been cut down while assaulting a strongly defended cave, advancing through a shower of grenades to within eight yards of enemy forces in a cave's mouth, where he dressed his comrades' wounds before making 4 separate trips under fire to evacuate them to safety. On May 5, he unhesitatingly braved enemy shelling and small arms fire to assist an artillery officer. He applied bandages, moved his patient to a spot that offered protection from small arms fire and, while artillery and mortar shells fell close by, painstakingly administered plasma. Later that day, when an American was severely wounded by fire from a cave, Pfc. Doss crawled to him where he had fallen 25 feet from the enemy position, rendered aid, and carried him 100 yards to safety while continually exposed to enemy fire. On May 21, in a night attack on high ground near Shuri, he remained in exposed territory while the rest of his company took cover, fearlessly risking the chance that he would be mistaken for an infiltrating Japanese and giving aid to the injured until he was himself seriously wounded in the legs by the explosion of a grenade. Rather than call another aid man from cover, he cared for his own injuries and waited 5 hours before litter bearers reached him and started carrying him to cover. The trio was caught in an enemy tank attack and Pfc. Doss, seeing a more critically wounded man nearby, crawled off the litter; and directed the bearers to give their first attention to the other man. Awaiting the litter bearers' return, he was again struck, by a sniper bullet while being carried off the field by a comrade, this time suffering a compound fracture of 1 arm. With magnificent fortitude he bound a rifle stock to his shattered arm as a splint and then crawled 300 yards over rough terrain to the aid station. Through his outstanding bravery and unflinching determination in the face of desperately dangerous conditions Pfc. Doss saved the lives of many soldiers. His name became a symbol throughout the 77th Infantry Division for outstanding gallantry far above and beyond the call of duty.

Look, it's been a hectic few months. For those that don't know, I am no longer a resident of beautiful San Diego. Long story short: downsize from my last defense job last October. Got on with another company in November but didn't actually start until January because...

I moved to Alabama to take it!

That's right, I'm now a full time resident of Daphne, AL just east of Mobile on the Gulf Coast. What went with that? Oh, selling a house in San Diego, moving the family out here, moving our stuff into storage, and finally buying a house out here. We've been in the new place for three weeks but that also entailed setting up new accounts, changes of address, and of course moving everything out of storage.

Fun, fun.

Needlest to say, I've been stresssed and yet grateful. Also, I haven't gotten a ton of writing done.

That doesn't mean I haven't gotten anything done.

Watcher was completed and turned into HarperCollins. Which decided to pass based on the sales for Demon and Guardian. I warned you that might happen.

The Long Fall into Scarlet (formerly Progeny) was picked up by Rothco Press and should be out in the fall. Spent a good chunk of the spring revising it and to those who own Progeny, there is a new ending.

The second book from Mondo Blood, Revenge of the Cannibal Spear Maidens, was released last week by Thunderstorm Books and is pretty much sold out.

Thursday, April 21, 2016

Based on that opening sentence, you’d be just to assume I am
(was) a Prince fan.

Not true.

I’ve never been one for, what I consider, pop music. I like classic, opera, hard rock, and movie
scores. Pop never made the list (except
on few occasions and usually when it was tied to a movie). I didn’t hate it. Just didn’t care. Same goes for rap. There was always an exception but I liked my
music either old or rage-based.

That being said, I always respected Prince. He charted his own course. Always had hot women at his side. And played a mean guitar. He was kind of the future (even though David
Bowie came before him). He was the
ultimate entertainer yet didn’t rely on studio recording corrections or
auto-tune to save his ass.

He toured,
played live, and played with the best of them.
Often, showing them up.

So why am I sad Prince died today?

Couple of reasons. I
grew up when he was BIG. So, that means
another reason to confront my own mortality.
Two, just another reminder my kids will never know what MTV actually was
meant to be. Three, the dude was
talented. I mean damn talented.

Now remember, not a fan.
Not a consistent listener.
However, I acknowledge two moments where Prince literally froze me in
place and had me thinking, “This son of a bitch is good.”

The first is the greatest damn guitar solo I’ve ever
seen. Clip below.

The second is the greatest damn Superbowl Halftime Show that
will ever be. Link below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NN3gsSf-Ys

In both instances, I stopped, I watched, and was
transfixed. Prince gave me two great
moments in my life. I can accept that
now.

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Full disclosure: I love college football and have been an advocate for a playoff system since junior high.

However, the sheer stupidity of insisting on hosting the final four games on New Year's Eve is beyond rational thought. A group of people actually came together and said, "That's the Day! That's the Day we want two of our biggest games to be played on!"

A day most people do not have off. A day a lot of people on the West coast are still at work when the first game begins. I know this because on New Year's Eve, when Clemson/Mich St started, I was in a movie theater with the family waiting for THE FORCE AWAKENS to start. I was checking the score on the old iPhone.

But I was unique in a way since I didn't have a job that day. However, if I were still at my old job, I certainly would have been since only New Year's Day is a holiday at most companies.

The saddest part is they could have done the playoff games on Saturday without any competition from the NFL or any other major bowl games (for the most part). They would have owned Saturday. It would have been an event!

No, let's do it on a Thursday, a day before the whole country has the day off. That's smart thinking.

I can only assume Pat Hayden had something to do with this call before he resigned from the selection committee.

Also, this thing needs to expand to six teams. The number 1 and 2 seeds get a bye. 3 and 6, 4 and 5 duke it out. Then proceed to 1 and 2 and eventually a championship game. Doing that would have probably helped in terms of not having awful games this last time.

Sunday, January 3, 2016

Okay, I didn't see all the movies of 2015 so far, however, I did see a decent number. Also, below are not necessarily movies released in 2015. Instead, I picked them based on when I viewed them. So, there's that.

Onto the list, the last being my favorite.

5. ANT-MAN. Sorry, but I just dug the hell out of this movie. More so than AGE OF ULTRON.

4. THE GAMBLER. Don't know why, but I related to the main character. Not on a gambling level. More like a lack of emotional maturity level, especially in relation to writing.

3. BIRDMAN. Watched this on a flight. Watched it on the return flight. Watched it again at home. Some of the best acting I've ever scene. Michael Keaton should have gotten the Oscar.

2. STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS. Look, I've been a Star Wars geek forever. I was collecting the toys even as a high school/college student. I still watch the prequels, even when they piss me off. This movie hit all the right marks for me, even if a lot of it was fan service. I'm a fan and I was served!

1. MAD MAX: FURY ROAD. This wasn't just the best movie of the year. This is in the upper echelons of my all-time favorite movies. And some don't like to admit it, it's the best in the series. And yes, better than THE ROAD WARRIOR.

Friday, January 1, 2016

The last two years have sucked, on the whole, for me. I won't go into details (right now) but will say 2014 was my doing. 2015...that's a story for another day. But it can go F*** itself.

Now, as 2016 begins, I'm about to start on a new journey. Different job. Different state. Same old family. To all who have helped the last couple years, many thanks.

2015 Bookwise updates:

1. HarperCollins has decided NOT to publish the third book in the DEMON cycle. So, WATCHER will have to find a new home somewhere else. Or I'll self-publish it. Fear not, you will eventually see the third book somewhere. After that, not sure. I had a plan for seven books. However, that's a lot of work without a publisher behind you.

2. PROGENY will be reborn under a new title that fits it better. It was always a supernatural noir tale and I decided to match a title that better fits that tradition. The new title: THE LONG FALL INTO SCARLET. Also, it will be revised with a better ending, etc. Stay tuned.

3. My short story "The Long Bright Descent" was accepted for Grey Matter Press's anthology PEELING BACK THE SKIN. Release date: TBD.

4. My short story "The Yellow Bug" will appear in the MADHOUSE anthology for Dark Regions Press SOON!!!!!!!

5. Earlier in 2015, my short story with J.A. Konrath hit the street. It features his Jack Daniels character with my Frank Baldwin character (AKA Progeny AKA The Long Fall into Scarlet).

6. I made my short stories "Pigs" and "I am Vision, I am Death" available as e-books for Kindle.

7. I've done a lot of solo freelance gigs lately for non-fiction markets (blogs, legal firms, etc). However, I consider myself an expert in the realms of dialogue and plot pacing. If you need help with those two fields, feel free to reach out. I charge, but not much. Yet.

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

I know, it's been a while. I have good reasons (that I won't go into here right now). However, rest assured, I will have some new updates soon.

In the meantime, my buddy Sam W. Anderson recently had his new novel THE NINES released by Rothco Press! Even better, it's set in his Money Run mythos. How to describe it? Hmmm....Smokey and the Bandit meets Mad Max. Done and sold.

If you haven't checked out Sam, he's been nice enough to post a sample of the Money Run in the form of a short story on his blog.

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MY BOOKS

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Hall of Fame

On Bigfoot Crank Stomp:

"This book gives new meaning to the word OUTRAGEOUS! It's so totally off-the-wall while at the same time so unputdownable that it blew my creative doors off. The whole time I was reading it I was PISSED that I hadn't thought of it." -Edward Lee, author of Haunter of the Threshold and Header

On Progeny:

"Erik Williams' latest is tough, dark, and assured. There's grit and grue to spare. Progeny is an escalator ride straight down into some subbasement of Hell." -Laird Barron

"The prose is mean, gritty, relentlessly paced. Readers of Cain and Chandler should feel at home here...well, except for the severed heads, of course. This is the new Hard-Boiled, and Erik Williams has just proven himself its most brutal and self-assured voice." -Joe McKinney, author of Flesh Eaters and Dead City

On Demon:

"Demon is a swiftly-paced novel that kicks ass all over the place." -Ray Garton, author of Serpent Girl and Live Girls

"Demon -like a hellacious cross between 24, The Exorcist and a videogame. Fast-paced and wicked fun." -Jonathan Maberry, NY Times bestseller and multiple Bram Stoker Award-winning author of The King of Plagues and Rot & Ruin

"Some things just won't stay buried...no matter how sanctified the ground. Set amid the turmoil and terror of the present war, a much more ancient battle--the ultimate battle of GOOD versus EVIL in which Man is only a pawn--is resurrected...and God help us all." -P.D. Cacek, multiple Bram Stoker Award-winning author of The Wind Caller